On today’s show… Cadillac is playing a large part in boosting GM’s bottom line, Uber is outperforming taxi drivers in one key metric and an inside look at the development of Domino’s purpose built pizza delivery car. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily for March 21st, 2016.

CADILLAC HELPS BOOST GM’S BOTTOM LINE
Last year Cadillac sold about 278,000 vehicles worldwide, including nearly 80,000 cars in China. In the U.S. market, Cadillac’s average transaction price is around $52,000. That suggests that Cadillac generated nearly $15 billion in revenue for GM last year. And if we assume that Cadillac earned a profit of about $4,000 for each of those vehicles, not an unreasonable assumption, then that means Cadillac posted a net profit for GM of $1.1 billion. Critics of Cadillac focus on how its sales are lagging behind the overall market. But they’re missing the real story. These numbers show that Cadillac is playing an important role in GM’s growing financial strength.

GM’S 5-YEAR CHINA PLAN
The company also revealed its five-year plan to grow sales in China. Between now and 2020, GM and its joint-venture partners will introduce more than 60 new or refreshed models, which will mainly consist of SUVs, crossovers and luxury vehicles. But part of that plan also includes 10 new electric and hybrid models. In addition to the new vehicles, GM sees the potential to grow its financing and insurance business. By the end of the decade, GM estimates that up to 40% of customers in China will finance a vehicle, compared to 30% today. Overall, GM expects sales in China to increase by at least 5 million units by 2020 or grow about 3 to 5% annually.

CHEVY REFRESHES SONIC
And in other GM news, Chevrolet introduced a refreshed Sonic over the weekend. The little compact now features front end styling that falls more in line with the rest of Chevy’s lineup and includes new optional LED running lights. The rear fascia has been reworked as well. Inside it features a new instrument cluster along with a new MyLink system that comes a standard 7-inch touchscreen. The 2017 Sonic goes on sale this fall.

Still to come… Formula One ditches its new qualifying format after just one race.

UBER OUT PERFORMS TAXIS
A new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that Uber is out performing taxis in capacity utilization. Or in other words, how often a passenger is in the car or how many miles are shared with a rider. On average the capacity utilization rate for Uber drivers is nearly 40% higher than taxi drivers. The reason Uber is much more efficient is due to its technology, flexible hours for its drivers and exemptions from certain regulations. If you factor out fixed costs, Uber could charge about 30% less than taxis and still earn the same amount per hour. And this is another reason why OEMs are racing into new mobility services.

FORMULA 1 DITCHES NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT
If you’ve been out of the Formula 1 loop for a little bit, you may have missed that the racing series switched to a new qualifying format this year. It’s an elimination-style system that features 3 timed segments with the cars on track. The slowest drivers are tossed out after each round, all with the idea that the two fastest drivers will be left at the end to battle it out for pole position. Unfortunately, in the first race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix things didn’t quite work out to plan. The driver order ended up being set with 5-minutes left in the last round and nobody was on track. Not really the excitement some were expecting. And now the teams have unanimously voted to go back to the system it’s been running for the last several years. F1 says the new format may not be dead yet, but it needs to figure out a way to better optimize the system.

RED BULL UNVEILS DRIVER PROTECTION SHIELD
And in other F1 news, Red Bull has revealed its solution to better protect drivers. We’ve shown you this halo-style bar that was introduced earlier this year, but Red Bull’s is a windshield with a support structure behind it. Testing is said to begin soon but because it’s behind the halo bar in development, it would have to wait until the 2018 season at the earliest. The halo is set to be introduced next season.

Coming up next, Domino’s turns to the auto industry to help create its purpose built pizza delivery car.

DOMINO’S PIZZA TAPS AUTO INDUSTRY
Last year Domino’s Pizza came out with its own purpose built delivery car. But this isn’t a gimmick like the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile, these cars are being used to deliver pizza to customers. Called the DXP its a Chevy Spark that’s been modified by Roush. On last week’s Autoline After Hours we were joined by Russell Weiner, the President of Domino’s USA, and in the following clip, he goes into more detail about getting outside help to build the DXP.

(Clip from AAH #324 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

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Glad to see F1 drop the new qualifying system; I stayed up and watched and it really su, suc……aspirated. It was really awful so going back to the old system was the right thing to do. As far as the race (I stayed up late; actually got up early) and watched it live; it was pretty good. Haas (U.S. team) scored points in its first race (kudos to them) as that isn’t particularly easy to do, especially in it inaugural race. Ferrari got the jump but Kimi blew up and Vettel (team) seemed to have made a ‘wrong’ choice in tires and M/B ruled the day (again); Rossberg won.

Chuck, I like you got up early (east coast) to watch the qualifying and the race. in qualifying, I don’t think drivers realized how quickly they could fall from being safe (Alonso)to dropping into the elimination zone with no time to move up. I think F1 had a good idea for the fans with the idea of having constant activity on the track, but that didn’t happen, as we saw. The part I disagreed with was that if you were on a hot lap and time expired, the lap didn’t count. Previously, if your lap was in progress, I counted. The Alonso crash was horrific and I was relieved to see him walk away. I fear if he would have been hurt badly. halos would be on the cars in April.

I think Uber is a bad idea, which the government should shut down. With taxis there are protections in place – the drivers are screened, trained and licensed as commercial drivers. The vehicles are constantly inspected and kept in good repair.
With Uber, you take your chances. They are ordinary people from the area. No special training [how good/awful is their driving], minimal screening, driving their own personal car, which may or not be in good running condition.
I am shocked that they have been allowed to operate this long. You may save a little money using Uber, but is it worth risking your safety? Not for this guy.

Didn’t watch F1 but did watch Moto GP, good start to the season and the new rules. Regarding halos, F1 has about a billion rules so why not add one more, driver head protection. Design what ever you want but you have one month to get it on the car.

#4 I used Uber for the first time yesterday and I agree with your comments about the risk of unregulated transportation. The personal experience I had was overall good even though the Uber drivers car had a seriously misbalanced tire. So yes “good running condition” can be a risk. However I also like less government regulations.
Besides I dont see it much different than asking a friend to pick you up from the airport. They have no special training and the running condition of their car can also be questionable. Anyway it worked out great for me and I will likely use it again.